Hugh Hefner’s true legacy: Sexual Exploitation by Patrick Trueman

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With Hugh Hefner’s death, the media has erupted in praise for his alleged contributions to society through the pornography magazine he founded, Playboy.

In reality, Hefner leaves behind a colossal legacy of sexual exploitation.

Playboy popularized the commodification of the female body in soft-core pornography magazines in the 1950s, and it laid the groundwork for the public health crisis of pornography that America is experiencing today.

Patrick Truman, in a Washington Examiner column titled “Hugh Hefner’s true legacy: mainstreaming the sexual objectification of women” wrote:

With Hugh Hefner’s death, the media has erupted in praise for his alleged contributions to society through the pornography magazine he founded, Playboy.

In reality, Hefner leaves behind a colossal legacy of sexual exploitation.

Playboy popularized the commodification of the female body in soft-core pornography magazines in the 1950s, and it laid the groundwork for the public health crisis of pornography that America is experiencing today.

Without Hefner, pornography may have never gone mainstream. His opportune use of nude photos of Marilyn Monroe, who was just becoming a Hollywood sensation, in Playboy’s inaugural issue immediately gained the magazine national attention and notoriety. Further, by cunningly using models that captured the male sexual fantasy of the “girl next door,” and creating an archetype of the detached, “sophisticated” male connoisseur of pleasure, especially sex, Hefner succeeded in making pornography seem as American as apple pie.

Hefner was not a revolutionary, folk hero, or champion of free speech. He was a pioneer in the sexual objectification and exploitation of women.

From its very inception, Playboy made its views on women clear. As Hefner opined in the first issue, “We want to make it very clear from the start, we aren’t a ‘family’ magazine.’ If you’re somebody’s sister, wife, or mother-in-law and picked us up by mistake, please pass us along to the man in your life and get back to the Ladies Home Companion.”

Research shows that Playboy portrayed female sexuality as subordination and women as universally available to the male sexual gaze—a fundamental characteristic of pornography that carries on today.

Read the full article.

ABOUT PATRICK TRUEMAN

Patrick Trueman is president of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. He is a former chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division at the Department of Justice from 1988 to 1993.

RELATED ARTICLES:

The Human Costs of the World Hugh Hefner Created

Hefner’s Mansion Embodied Hedonistic Fun and Darker Impulses – New York Times

Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion was hedonistic headquarters for his brand – LA Times

Choose: The Blue Pill or the Red Pill

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The Matrix is a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called “the Matrix”, created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies’ heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer Neo learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from their “dream world.”

Watch this seminal moment in the film:

The 1999 fantasy/science fiction film “The Matrix” is a metaphor for what mankind is facing in the United States and Western Civilization today. Americans elected a President who is offering us a choice, much like that presented to Neo by Morpheus in “The Matrix” who says:

“You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

The term “red pill” refers to a human that is aware of the true nature of the Matrix. This is a metaphor for today’s dystopian political environment know as “the swamp”, a reflection of the Matrix.

There are those who have taken the blue pill and refuse to see the reality, refuse to see how deep the rabbit hole truly is. Then there are those who have taken the red pill and resist the toxic dystopian politics of division, name calling and who stand up rather than kneel to the Matrix. During his inaugural address President Trump said:

Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.

Washington, D.C. are addicted to the blue pill, socialism. Working American people are the yearning for the red pill, capitalism.

President Trump went on to say:

For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital [the Matrix] has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.

Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.

Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed.

The establishment [takers of the blue pill] protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.

Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital [the Matrix], there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.

[ … ]

At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.

When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.

The Bible tells us, “how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”

[Emphasis added]

Winston Churchill wrote, “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.”

Capitalism is the red pill, socialism is the blue pill.

So which do you want the blue pill or the red pill?

Oklahoma Beheading Trial of Jah’Keem Yisrael: Is Obeying the Qur’an a Form of Mental Illness?

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Jah’Keem Yisrael formerly Alton Alexander Nolen

Seems both the prosecution and defense are “Islamophobes.” My latest in PJ Media:

The trial of Alton Alexander Nolen — a.k.a. Jah’Keem Yisrael, who beheaded a coworker, Colleen Hufford, and tried to behead another, Traci Johnson, at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Oklahoma in September 2014 — has revealed anew the incoherence and inconsistency of our official response to the jihad threat.

Nolen insists he was merely following the Qur’an. In statements he made days after the attack that have just been revealed during his trial, Nolen couldn’t have been clearer about his mindset, worldview, and motivations. When he was read his rights, he responded:

I’m a Muslim.

When asked why he beheaded Hufford, he answered:

I just feel like … I did what I needed to do. What Allah … says in the Qur’an to do. Oppressors don’t need to be here.

Nolen has a case. The Qur’an says:

When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks (47:4).

Nolen thought Colleen Hufford was not just an unbeliever, but something even worse: she was, he explained, a “slave to the devil.” Nolen himself, on the other hand, was a “slave to Allah.” He told police:

You know the Muslim is somebody who submits their will to Allah … Whatever he wants done, that’s what we do … And you know he wants us to get the oppressors out of this place.

When asked if he regretted murdering Hufford, Nolen answered:

This wasn’t nothing but a trial for me. I passed it … because, like I said, I felt oppressed. … I knew for sure that … if I was to die right then … I was going to heaven.

He added:

I feel, you know, you know what I’m saying, if I was to die in five or 10 minutes I’m going to Heaven. That’s all that matters to me.

Here again, Nolen has a case. The Qur’an promises Paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111). Nolen is, of course, still alive, but like the Fort Hood jihad mass murderer Nidal Malik Hasan, he likely believes that if he were to be executed, it would complete the requirements of the passage, and ensure his ticket to Paradise.

When asked if anyone had told him to behead unbelievers, he was quite clear about where he got the idea:

Uh, no. I read the Qur’an. Like I say, the Qur’an is easy to understand. … No one guides me but Allah.

Nolen also confirmed that he screamed “Allahu akbar” as he beheaded Hufford.

Both prosecuting and defense attorneys, however, seem to be discounting Nolen’s statements. The Oklahoman reported:

[H]is court-appointed defense attorneys are asking the jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity. They have told jurors he is mentally ill and believed what he was doing was right because of delusional misinterpretations of Islamic teachings.

Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn, meanwhile, went even farther, saying:

[Nolen] didn’t know the difference between right and wrong, and didn’t know the consequences of his actions.

Nonsense. He knows very well the difference between right and wrong. The Qur’an says: “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks,” and as far as he is concerned, that is right, and he knows that as a consequence of his actions, he will go to Paradise.

Mashburn is saying that standard Islamic belief is tantamount to insanity. Does he have any idea of how “Islamophobic” he is being?

We have seen this before. In Montreal last March, a police complaint was filed against the Dar Al-Arqam Mosque in Montreal for hosting an imam, Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr, who preached:

O Muslim, O servant of Allah, O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.

But this is a quotation that is attributed to Muhammad. Are the Canadian police really going to stop imams from quoting Muhammad? Are Oklahoma authorities really going to ascribe obedience to Qur’anic commands to insanity?…

Read the rest here.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Al-Qaeda wants Trump “dead or alive” for “crimes against Islam”

Taliban try to kill Mattis during Afghanistan visit, say Afghan security forces tipped them off

The Negative Infects of Sexual Liberalism

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Most people probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about disease. And at least where STDs are concerned, maybe that’s part of the problem. For the last several years, sexually transmitted infections and diseases have exploded into one of the worse crises no one is talking about. Now, they’re almost impossible to ignore, with rates surging to record highs in young and old people alike. The outbreak of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis reached an astounding two million cases last year, “the highest number ever,” according to the Centers for Disease Control.

A whopping 1.6 million new cases cropped up in 2016, stoking the fears of the medical community that Americans aren’t taking the problem seriously enough. To the CDC, the statistics are even more alarming since some strains of gonorrhea are now untreatable.

Unfortunately, this is just another by-product of sexual liberalism that’s coming home to roost in a nation that’s spent the last eight years — not just encouraging, but funding— messages of irresponsibility. Instead of encouraging morality, Barack Obama used every second of his two terms to promote immorality. And for our libertarian friends the economic burden is nothing to sneeze at. Taxpayers sink almost $20 billion a year into treatments for these infections — most of them incurable, and all of them expensive. Now, sadly, it’s become part of the push for universal health care. The philosophy is simple: live however you want, and everyone else pays the price.

From bathroom policies to free birth control, we’ve sexualized our culture to the point that it’s actually killing us. Instead of ignoring the problem, it’s time for liberals to join conservatives in urging America to stop engaging in risky behavior that results in deadly consequences. Clearly, there needs to be a serious discussion of the long-term implications of the Left’s agenda of sexual-satisfaction-at any-cost — not just for individuals, but for society as a whole. The government has spent years (and even more taxpayer dollars) trying to solve a problem it helped created. How many more will we spend ignoring the real solution: restraint?

Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC Action senior writers.

Also in the September 27 Washington Update:

Senate GOP at Lose Ends in Alabama

House Moves on Pro-life Pain Killer

FRC in the Spotlight

Previous Washington Update Articles »

VIDEO: Now I have had enough – Why The Flag Means So Much To Americans

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This video is a must watch. Please take the time to watch and digest what these black men have to say. The NFL and NBA will go down if they continue to coddle the misguided athletes who are disrespecting our country, our flag and our president!

Officer Brandon Tatum explains why you cannot disrespect the flag without respecting it, why it means so much to Americans, and why the NFL needs to stop disrespecting it.

I could never express what they have said.

RELATED ARTICLE: Boycott the NFL on Veterans Weekend, Sunday, November 12th

Cost of Illegal immigration: Record $135 billion average $8,075 for each illegal, $25,000 in New York

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A continually growing population of illegal aliens, along with the federal government’s ineffective efforts to secure our borders, present significant national security and public safety threats to the United States. They also have a severely negative impact on the nation’s taxpayers at the local, state, and national levels. Illegal immigration costs Americans billions of dollars each year. Illegal aliens are net consumers of taxpayer-funded services and the limited taxes paid by some segments of the illegal alien population are, in no way, significant enough to offset the growing financial burdens imposed on U.S. taxpayers by massive numbers of uninvited guests. This study examines the fiscal impact of illegal aliens as reflected in both federal and state budgets.

The Number of Illegal Immigrants in the US

Estimating the fiscal burden of illegal immigration on the U.S. taxpayer depends on the size and characteristics of the illegal alien population. FAIR defines “illegal alien” as anyone who entered the United States without authorization and anyone who unlawfully remains once his/her authorization has expired. Unfortunately, the U.S. government has no central database containing information on the citizenship status of everyone lawfully present in the United States. The overall problem of estimating the illegal alien population is further complicated by the fact that the majority of available sources on immigration status rely on self-reported data. Given that illegal aliens have a motive to lie about their immigration status, in order to avoid discovery, the accuracy of these statistics is dubious, at best. All of the foregoing issues make it very difficult to assess the current illegal alien population of the United States.

However, FAIR now estimates that there are approximately 12.5 million illegal alien residents. This number uses FAIR’s previous estimates but adjusts for suspected changes in levels of unlawful migration, based on information available from the Department of Homeland Security, data available from other federal and state government agencies, and other research studies completed by reliable think tanks, universities, and other research organizations.

The Cost of Illegal Immigration to the United States

At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $134.9 billion to cover the costs incurred by the presence of more than 12.5 million illegal aliens, and about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens. That amounts to a tax burden of approximately $8,075 per illegal alien family member and a total of $115,894,597,664. The total cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is both staggering and crippling. In 2013, FAIR estimated the total cost to be approximately $113 billion. So, in under four years, the cost has risen nearly $3 billion. This is a disturbing and unsustainable trend. The sections below will break down and further explain these numbers at the federal, state, and local levels.

Total Governmental Expenditures on Illegal Aliens

Total national costs of undocumented immigrants

Total Tax Contributions by Illegal Aliens

Total taxes paid by illegal immigrants

Total Economic Impact of Illegal Immigration

Economic Impact of Illegal Immigration

Federal

The Federal government spends a net amount of $45.8 billion on illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children. This amount includes expenditures for public education, medical care, justice enforcement initiatives, welfare programs and other miscellaneous costs. It also factors in the meager amount illegal aliens pay to the federal government in income, social security, Medicare and excise taxes.

FEDERAL SPENDING

The approximately $46 billion in federal expenditures attributable to illegal aliens is staggering. Assuming an illegal alien population of approximately 12.5 million illegal aliens and 4.2 million U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, that amounts to roughly $2,746 per illegal alien, per year. For the sake of comparison, the average American college student receives only $4,800 in federal student loans each year.

FAIR maintains that every concerned American citizen should be asking our government why, in a time of increasing costs and shrinking resources, is it spending such large amounts of money on individuals who have no right, nor authorization, to be in the United States? This is an especially important question in view of the fact that the illegal alien beneficiaries of American taxpayer largess offset very little of the enormous costs of their presence by the payment of taxes. Meanwhile, average Americans pay approximately 30% of their income in taxes.

Federal Education – $1.6 Billion

Federal Medical Costs – $17.1 Billion

Federal Justice Expenditures – $13.1 Billion

Federal Welfare Programs – $5.8 Billion

Total Federal Expenditures – $45.8 Billion

FEDERAL TAXES

Taxes collected from illegal aliens offset fiscal outlays and, therefore must be included in any examination of the cost of illegal immigration. However, illegal alien apologists frequently cite the allegedly large tax payments made by illegal aliens as a justification for their unlawful presence, and as a basis for offering them permanent legal status through a new amnesty, similar to the one enacted in 1986. That argument is nothing more than a red herring.

FAIR believes that most studies grossly overestimate both the taxes actually collected from illegal aliens and, more importantly, the amount of taxes actually paid by illegal aliens (i.e., the amount of money collected from illegal aliens and actually kept by the federal government). This belief is based on a number of factors: Since the 1990’s, the United States has focused on apprehending and removing criminal aliens. The majority of illegal aliens seeking employment in the United States have lived in an environment where they have little fear of deportation, even if discovered. This has created an environment where most illegal aliens are both able and willing to file tax returns. Because the vast majority of illegal aliens hold low-paying jobs, those who are subject to wage deductions actually wind up receiving a complete refund of all taxes paid, plus net payments made on the basis of tax credits.

As a result, illegal aliens actually profit from filing a tax return and, therefore, have a strong interest in doing so.

Federal Tax Receipts from Illegal Aliens – $22.1 Billion

TOTAL FEDERAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Net Federal Impact of Illegal Aliens – $30.4 Billion

State and Local

Even though the costs of illegal immigration borne by taxpayers at the federal level are staggering, they only pale in comparison to the fiscal burden shouldered by taxpayers at the state level. Most government taxes and fees remitted to government by Americans are paid in forms other than income taxes submitted to the IRS on April 15th. There are city and state income taxes, fuel surcharges, sales and property taxes, etc…. States and localities also bear the main burden for costs associated with public education, city and county infrastructure, and local courts and jails.

A further complication is the fact that, while barred from many federal benefits, state laws allow illegal aliens to access many state-funded social welfare programs. Because so little data is collected on the immigration status of individuals collecting benefits, it is difficult to determine the rate at which illegal aliens use welfare programs. However, based on the average income of illegal alien households, it appears they use these programs at a rate higher than lawfully present aliens or citizens.

STATE AND LOCAL SPENDING

The combined total of state and local government general expenditures on illegal aliens is $18,571,428,571 billion. The services referenced in this section are supported directly by the payment of city and state taxes and related fees. At the state level, examples of general expenditures would be the costs of general governance, fire departments, garbage collection, street cleaning and maintenance, etc. The state, county or municipality — or even a special taxing district in some situations — may provide some of these services. In most cases, localities offer more services than the state. By FAIR’s estimate, there is approximately a 65 percent to 35 percent cost share between local and state governments.

The estimate of general expenditure services received by illegal alien households, beyond the specific outlays mentioned in the sections above, excludes capital expenditures and debt servicing. The calculation for each state is based on the state’s annual operating budget, reduced by the amount covered by the federal government. That expenditure is then reduced further based on the relative size of the estimated population of illegal aliens and their U.S.-born minor children. As noted in our population estimate, this means states like California, Texas, Florida, New York, etc., with larger illegal alien cohorts, will bear larger shares of these costs.

State Educational Expenditures – $44.4 Billion

State Medical Expenditures – $12.1 Billion

State Administration of Justice Expenditures – $10.8 Billion

State Welfare Expenditures – $2.9 Billion

State and Local Expenditures – $88 Billion

STATE AND LOCAL TAXES COLLECTED

Offsetting the fiscal costs of the illegal alien population are the taxes collected from them at the state and local level. Many proponents of illegal immigration argue that the taxes paid to the states render illegal aliens a net boon to state and local economies. However, this is a spurious argument. Evidence shows that the tax payments made by illegal aliens fail to cover the costs of the many services they consume.

Illegal aliens are not typical taxpayers. First, as previously noted in this study, the large percentage of illegal aliens who work in the underground economy frequently avoid paying any income tax at all. (Many actually receive a net cash profit through refundable tax credit programs.) Second, and also previously noted, the average earnings of illegal alien households are considerably lower than both legal aliens and native-born workers.

State Taxes Collected – $3.5 Billion

TOTAL STATE AND LOCAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Net State Impact – $85 Billion

Federal and State Fiscal Outlays – $134 Billion

Federal and State Tax Contributions – $18 Billion

Net Cost of Illegal Immigration – $115 Billion

RELATED VIDEO: DNC leader compares illegal immigrants to Holocaust victims

Judge Roy Moore Wins GOP’s Alabama Senate Runoff

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Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, defeats incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., in the race to decide who would battle Democrat nominee Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 special election.

Challenger Roy Moore soundly defeated incumbent Luther Strange in Tuesday’s runoff to choose the Republican nominee in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race.

With all precincts reporting after 11 p.m., Moore had 54.6 percent or 262,204 votes and Strange had 45.4 percent or 218,066 votes. The Associated Press called the race when results from about half the 2,286 precincts were in.

“Republican voters know who a person of principle is,” Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, told The Daily Signal in a pre-election interview predicting a victory for Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 special election for the Senate seat vacated by Republican Jeff Sessions when he became attorney general in the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump had endorsed Strange, whom he considered loyal to his priorities.

Trump tweeted congratulations to Moore late Tuesday night:

“From the beginning of this campaign, my priority has been serving the people of Alabama,” Strange, the state’s former attorney general, said in a written concession statement. “Tomorrow, I will go back to work with President Trump and do all I can to advance his agenda over the next few weeks.”

In victory remarks in which he characteristically evoked faith in God, Moore said:

Together we can make America great. We can support the president. Don’t let anybody in the press think that because [Trump] supported my opponent I do not support him and support his agenda. As long as it’s constitutional, as long as it advances our society, our culture, our country, I will be supportive. … But we have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress.

The runoff Tuesday was set up when neither Strange nor Moore garnered 50 percent of the vote in a 10-candidate primary Aug. 15.  (Moore got 40 percent to Strange’s 33 percent, while Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., finished third with 20 percent.)

Republicans seek to preserve their slim 52-seat majority in the 100-seat Senate.

Moore tweeted as his victory became clear:

Democrats’ nominee Jones, 63, is a lawyer and former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama appointed by President Bill Clinton. His campaign platform includes health care reform, environmental protections, civil rights, and criminal justice reform.

On  Feb. 9, then-Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Strange to the seat vacated when the Senate confirmed one of its own, Sessions, as attorney general.

Trump endorsed and stumped for Strange, but also said at a rally Friday night in Huntsville, Alabama, that he would work “like hell” to elect Moore should the challenger prevail.

“I might have made a mistake,” Trump said at one point. “I’ll be honest, I might have made a mistake.”

But the president added: “Luther [Strange] will definitely win.”

In the runoff, Moore, 70, presented himself as the true conservative, while Strange, 64, batted away accusations that he is too establishment. Moore had led in polls, but Strange appeared to be closing the gap.

Andrew Roth, vice president of government affairs at the Club for Growth, predicted in an interview with The Daily Signal that the runoff would be a bellwether for how state voters view progress in Congress.

“The way I view this race is that it’s more of an establishment versus anti-establishment race,” Roth said. “The issues, conservative or not, didn’t really play in this. The race is more about what voters want out of Congress and out of the Senate.”

Vice President Mike Pence, a former congressman from Indiana as well as that state’s governor, also endorsed Strange.

“Our president needs Luther Strange back in the United States Senate so he can finish the job,” Pence said Monday night at a rally at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. “I know Sen. Luther Strange will be there for our president, because he’s already been there.”

Sen. Luther Strange lost to challenger Roy Moore. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Newscom)

The Washington Examiner and other news outlets reported that the Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filled Alabama’s TV and radio airwaves with millions of dollars worth of ads backing Strange and attacking Moore.

Moore’s high-profile supporters include Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate, as well as former Trump White House aides Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka.

“A vote for Judge Moore isn’t a vote against the president,” Palin said Thursday night, adding:

It is a vote for the people’s agenda that elected the president. It’s for the big, beautiful movement that we’re all a part of. The president needs support to keep the promises that elected him. So we’re sending Trump someone who has our back, not Mitch McConnell’s … Make no mistake, ‘Big Luther’ is Mitch McConnell’s guy.

“While we were honored to have fought hard for Big Luther, Judge Roy Moore won this nomination fair and square and he has our support, as it is vital that we keep this seat in Republican hands,” the Senate Leadership Fund said in a formal acknowledgement of Strange’s loss Tuesday night.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, came out Monday in support of Moore.

“A Judge Moore win really would make sure that the Trump agenda gets implemented,” Meadows told Breitbart News, adding:

There’s all kinds of members of Congress and senators who will run, and they really run so incredibly strong like they have a backbone of steel, but they really have a backbone of a banana. You know, when it’s peeled back, it gets real mushy when they get to Washington, D.C. So we need to give them some steel. Judge Roy Moore has a backbone of steel.

Trump won Alabama in November with 62 percent of the vote.

Moore is perhaps best known for being removed twice as Alabama’s chief justice, first in 2003 for refusing to take down a Ten Commandments monument and again in 2016, after his re-election, for ordering judges not to issue licenses for same-sex marriages.

Moore’s campaign platform included support for limited government, immigration reform, a border wall, energy independence, and the military.

The Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund also endorsed Moore.

Martin, the Tea Party Patriots co-founder, told The Daily Signal before the polls opened that by choosing Moore, GOP voters would be “sending a message to Washington that they want someone they can count on to stick to their principles.”

A victory for Strange, she said, would be on account of Trump.

“Given President Trump’s endorsement, people in Alabama will think that Strange will support the president’s agenda,” Martin said.

The GOP runoff was a product of voter frustration with the status quo, the Club for Growth’s Roth said.

“The dysfunction in Washington has been around for so long that maybe, finally the voters have finally had enough,” Roth said, adding:

You certainly saw them express that in November when Trump won [and] you’re going to continue to see the voters express their anger until they get things fixed.

Ken McIntyre contributed to this report, which was updated to include candidate statements and final unofficial results.  

Rachel del Guidice

Rachel del Guidice is a reporter for The Daily Signal. She is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Forge Leadership Network, and The Heritage Foundation’s Young Leaders Program. Send an email to Rachel. Twitter: @LRacheldG.

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RELATED ARTICLES:

Moore Victory Shows Populist Movement Bigger Than Trump. He Must Return To Lead It.

What the Roy Moore victory means

U.S. Military Academy Graduate posts that he is a Communist on social media

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Lieutenant Rapone proudly displays his Che Guevara, the butcher of La Cabana, t-shirt

West Point alumnus and U.S. Army Infantry officer Spenser Rapone presents a “communism will win” sign while in uniform.

Douglas Ernst staff writer for The Washington Times reports:

Photos of a West Point alumnus holding a pro-Colin Kaepernick “Communism Will Win” sign while in uniform is riling up the military community.

Images of U.S. infantry Officer Spenser Rapone reached a popular military news site on Tuesday and set off a robust debate on NFL national anthem protests, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback that started it all in 2016, and the shock of seeing an unapologetic communist from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

“I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Colin Kaepernick wasn’t protesting in favor of communism. #ThatGuy,” wrote “Doctrine Man,” the moderator of a well-known Facebook page frequented by active military personnel and veterans.

Readers were shocked to see Mr. Rapone, whose Twitter handle is “Commie Bebop,” raising a clenched fist in support of Mr. Kapernick; another photo featured the officer revealing a Che Guevara shirt under his uniform.

LawNewz.com by Dan Abrams confirmed Mr. Rapone’s identity Monday evening with the officer himself, but he said was on a field exercise until Friday and would be unable to comment for the time being.

Read more

The United States Military Academy Public Affairs Office release the following statement:

RESPONSE TO SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS BY USMA GRADUATE — September 26, 2017

The U.S. Military Academy strives to develop leaders who internalize the academy’s motto of Duty, Honor, Country, and who live the Army values. Second Lieutenant Rapone’s actions in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army.

As figures of public trust, members of the military must exhibit exemplary conduct, and are prohibited from engaging in certain expressions of political speech in uniform. Second Lieutenant Rapone’s chain of command is aware of his actions and is looking into the matter.

The academy is prepared to assist the officer’s chain of command as required.

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A Communist @ West Point

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EDITORS NOTE: The featured images of Spenser Rapone are via Twitter, Rapone’s Commie Bebop account.

‘I am an American first’ letter to the NFL

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To the National Football League,

I am an American first, and I am proud to be a citizen of the United States. For decades, the NFL has respected me and my beliefs by honoring the flag during the playing of the National Anthem before every game. This has never been a matter of politics; all Americans of every political belief have always respected the values America represents.

That is why I am both heartbroken and angry that our anthem and flag are being turned into a target of divisive and opportunistic politics by your players, owners, and the league itself. As a people, we are faced with some of the most serious challenges in our history, and we need to come together in unity on these issues. By broadcasting a message of division to the world, you are harming our national security, and emboldening our enemies.

nfl-kneel.pngThe controversy you have created is not about free speech, but about respect. I give the NFL my attention every week, and I expect to be treated with respect by those who my attention supports, not insulted with their own politics. There are 165 hours a week when your players are not on the field… they may exercise free speech to their heart’s content during that time. But if they expect to come into my living room to insult me, I will continue to change the channel and give my attention elsewhere.

I am not looking to fight the NFL or the players with their deeply held personal views. I am asking instead for unity, that we come together as one nation and show the world that we are more united than divided. That flag and country means something larger to us than our politics, and that we can disagree on issues without disrespecting America.

But only the NFL can restore that ideal through your leadership, and I am asking you to do so today.

Unapologetically Patriotic,

Sign your name here.

RELATED ARTICLE: Boycott the NFL on Veterans Weekend, Sunday, November 12th

I’m a Conservative College Student. The First Amendment Is Dying on Campuses Like Mine.

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As a conservative columnist for my campus newspaper, it’s not unusual for me to be derided and accused of hate by leftist students.

Some have been calling for my firing ever since I started writing. I’m a mainstream conservative-libertarian. Apparently, that is beyond the pale.

Campuses are lively places, full of debate on political, social, and religious topics. But new ideological boundary lines have been drawn, and their crossing is met with reproach, accusations of hate, and even violence.

In March, a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont was hospitalized after protesters disrupted a speech by the social scientist Charles Murray.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter also felt the wrath of campus extremism when threats of violence prompted the University of California, Berkeley to cancel her speech.

These events and others have marked the erosion of the free speech at colleges that were once lauded for their commitment to it. On today’s campuses, anyone with a remotely controversial idea comes under attack. Why?

Millennials seem to have a problem with free speech.

In a study by the Pew Research Center, 40 percent of millennials agreed that “the government should be able to prevent people publicly making statements that are offensive to minority groups.”

The study found that today’s youth are much more likely than their parents and grandparents to support the suppression of controversial speech—a fact that young conservatives like me know all too well.

The hate mail, electronic diatribes, personal attacks, and threats I faced during my freshman year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst would make you think I’d done something horrible. In reality, all I’d done was write in The Collegian, the school paper—columns arguing against the sanctuary campus movement, safe spaces, political correctness, and overzealous cultural appropriation policies.

But what has fueled this hostility toward alternate ideas?

It’s simple: College campuses, once lively places of debate and controversy, have come under the tyranny of groupthink. In an age defined by diversity, we’ve left no space for differences that go deeper than the skin.

Some professors blatantly teach their opinion as fact and belittle the few students who don’t subscribe to their gospel of leftism.

The result? College classrooms that used to be places of robust conversation now cultivate a spirit of complacency. Institutions of higher education are complicit in fostering a culture of comfort—and in doing so, they are doing students a disservice.

The real world can be an ugly place where college graduates are regularly confronted by ideas they disagree with and things they find offensive.

College campuses are not that way. They’ve become “safe spaces,” where students are sheltered from the very expansion of their worldview that is meant to be the purpose of their education.

At Wellesley College, six professors suggested that the university set up a “censorship committee” in order to make sure that “guest speakers with controversial and objectionable beliefs” were barred from campus. In 2015, the president of Northwestern University, Morton Schapiro, took to The Washington Post to write that “we all deserve safe spaces.”

On my own campus, some professors responded to the election of Donald Trump by bringing therapy dogs to class and giving out free hugs. The desire to shield students from offense has stymied the debate that actually prepares them for life in the real world.

Students are being taught that opposing viewpoints are akin to intellectual violence and that “provocateurs” like me are basically assailants.

Free speech is dying on campus, but millennials aren’t the ones killing it. Guilt lies with the institutions that have chosen to coddle students when they should be challenging them.

One reason conservative speech garners such violent responses is that students aren’t used to hearing ideas they disagree with. On today’s campuses, liberal professors outnumber their conservative counterparts 12 to 1, even though the general public consists of more self-identified conservatives than liberals.

For all our talk about minority inclusion, we haven’t addressed the under-representation of nearly half the political population. Students have gotten used to their side of the story, and have no tolerance for anyone who rationally challenges them.

In his question, my friend hit upon the tensions that are dividing college campuses like never before. For me, the current climate means that I’ll keep getting anonymous hate mail in my inbox.

But in the meantime, universities are creating a generation so hostile to free speech that the First Amendment has more than idle threats to worry about.

COMMENTARY BY

Portrait of Bradley Polumbo

Bradley Polumbo

Bradley Polumbo is a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

A Note for our Readers:

Trust in the mainstream media is at a historic low—and rightfully so given the behavior of many journalists in Washington, D.C.

Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, it is painfully clear that the mainstream media covers liberals glowingly and conservatives critically.

Now journalists spread false, negative rumors about President Trump before any evidence is even produced.

Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. That’s why The Daily Signal exists.

The Daily Signal’s mission is to give Americans the real, unvarnished truth about what is happening in Washington and what must be done to save our country.

Our dedicated team of more than 100 journalists and policy experts rely on the financial support of patriots like you.

Your donation helps us fight for access to our nation’s leaders and report the facts.

You deserve the truth about what’s going on in Washington.

Please make a gift to support The Daily Signal.

SUPPORT THE DAILY SIGNAL

Army Captain is Sole Pittsburgh Steeler to Stand for National Anthem

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While Alejandro Villanueva’s team remained in the stadium tunnel, he alone came out to stand for the national anthem.

Only one member of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers stood for the national anthem Sunday afternoon after President Donald Trump said that those players who don’t respect the flag should be fired.

That player was Alejandro Villanueva, an offensive tackle for the Steelers and a veteran who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan. The Army Ranger and captain, now a member of the Army National Guard, is a recipient of the Bronze Star.

Trump let it be known on Twitter on Saturday that he thinks players in the NFL who don’t stand for the national anthem should lose their jobs. Many players and teams protested by kneeling, and a few teams—one of them being the Steelers—refused to come out onto the field for the anthem.

While Villanueva’s team remained in the stadium tunnel, he alone came out to stand for the national anthem before the Steelers’ 23-17 loss to the Bears in Chicago. Fox News reported that, in a postgame press conference, Villanueva drew criticism from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

“Like I said, I was looking for 100 percent participation. We were going to be respectful of our football team,” Tomlin said.

While his coach disagreed with Villanueva’s actions, the Veterans of Foreign Wars praised Villanueva’s actions “for showing the rest of his team and the league what true mettle is.”

“I stand for our flag and anthem, and I kneel for our fallen,” said Keith Harman, commander in chief of the VFW. “That’s what patriots do. We rally around the flag of our country, not use it and our Constitution as both shield and sword.”

Villanueva commented on the tactic of kneeling when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started doing it in the 2016 preseason.

“I don’t know if the most effective way is to sit down during the national anthem with a country that’s providing you freedom, providing you $16 million a year … when there are black minorities that are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan for less than $20,000 a year,” Villanueva said in an ESPN interview.

The controversy led to Villanueva’s jersey becoming the best-selling NFL merchandise Monday.

However, in a Monday press conference, Villanueva said, “I threw my teammates under the bus, unintentionally.”

“Every single time I see that picture of me standing by myself I feel embarrassed,” he added, according to CBS’ Pittsburgh affiliate station, referring to how he was the only Steeler out of the tunnel during the anthem.

“People that are taking a knee are not saying anything negative about the military, they’re not saying anything negative about the flag, they’re just trying to protest that there are some injustices in America,” Villanueva said.

Villanueva was born into a Hispanic military family at a naval base in Meridian, Mississippi, and played rugby while growing up in Spain, according to Go Army Sports.

Fans didn’t take NFL players’ kneeling lightly Sunday as many in the stands booed those who did. This led to Trump’s returning to Twitter on Monday to praise the fans who booed.

Casey Ryan

Casey Ryan is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.

A Note for our Readers:

Trust in the mainstream media is at a historic low—and rightfully so given the behavior of many journalists in Washington, D.C.

Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, it is painfully clear that the mainstream media covers liberals glowingly and conservatives critically.

Now journalists spread false, negative rumors about President Trump before any evidence is even produced.

Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. That’s why The Daily Signal exists.

The Daily Signal’s mission is to give Americans the real, unvarnished truth about what is happening in Washington and what must be done to save our country.

Our dedicated team of more than 100 journalists and policy experts rely on the financial support of patriots like you.

Your donation helps us fight for access to our nation’s leaders and report the facts.

You deserve the truth about what’s going on in Washington.

Please make a gift to support The Daily Signal.

SUPPORT THE DAILY SIGNAL

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image of Alejandro Villanueva standing tall for the national anthem is by Erin Hooley/TNS/Newscom. Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. But this can’t be done alone. Find out more.

Revoke the NFL’s Antitrust Exemption

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Ever wonder why the price of NFL football game individual and season tickets are so prohibitively expensive, as well as the high price of official NFL gear sold on the internet or in sporting goods stores? Ever wonder why the NFL has gotten away with not disclosing the dangers inherent in the sport, and has colluded among team owners to to hide this from the players and the public – despite their having access to top notch sports physicians on their staff? I can go on and on.

Indeed, were the NFL not subject to an antitrust exemption granted to it by our compromised Congress, thanks to the sport’s lobbyists having spread “beaucoup” money all over Capitol Hill, the club of uber rich owners who make their own rules with impunity could be charged under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, for price fixing, market division and other illegal anti-competitive acts. As a former Justice Department Antitrust Division prosecutor who was on the trial team that broke up AT&T during the Reagan administration for price fixing and market division, take it from me!

For the owners of the NFL teams which have dominated much of our culture, it comes as no surprise that they would support the players on their teams who find it their “duty” to kneel when the national anthem is played. Last Sunday, several teams, such as the Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, and Pittsburgh Steelers, with the owners consent if not complicity, saw fit to even up the ante, and took it a disrespectful step further and refused to come out of the locker room until after the national anthem was played. These owners acquiesced to this outrage because without these players, they would not have a team to profit from – so they wrongly believe. The owners are not just profiteering hack elitist tycoons, but cowards. Forced to choose between respect for our nation and our veterans who gave their lives to protect and preserve our freedoms, and instead sided with a growing number of their own high priced arrogant players who jingle the change each weekend for them, much like Judas they elect to sell out the country, and collect and bank their “30 pieces of silver.”

President Donald J. Trump was both right and courageous to take this issue on. This is what separates The Donald from every other president in American history! Even President Ronald Reagan, who I loved – I still tear up when I take a day off and go to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, and see video of his speeches – would not have stuck his neck out to this extent. It’s time that an American president not worry about being polite! In today’s world I prefer a commander in chief who tells it like it is, and advocates hard remedies.

Thus, President Trump was right to advocate firing these rogue players, boycotting NFL games, and suggesting that fans simply walk out when these unpatriotic players kneel, refuse to come out of the locker room when the national anthem is played, or do other acts disrespectful to our nation. In my humble opinion, this destructive conduct, which sets a bad example as well for our country’s youth, is not so much about race and discrimination against African-Americans, as it is about anti- patriotism. Nor is it a matter of First Amendment rights!

A football game and the NFL is a commercial enterprise and fans pay for the right to participate by going to or watching games on television, or buying sports gear. If players wish to protest the whatever ginned up discrimination claims of the likes of President Barack Obama, former attorneys general Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, Black Lives Matter, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam and other agitators have misleadingly sold to them for political gain, they can protest on any street corner or public park in the United States, at their time and expense, rather than on our dime. Fans simply did not pay for disrespectful behavior toward our brave servicemen, and others going all the way back to our Founding Fathers, who fought and risked and gave their lives to create a free nation. And, Betsy Ross did not design our Stars and Stripes, nor Francis Scott Key compose our Star Spangled Banner, to see them effectively spit on at our expense at NFL games!

But I also recommend that President Trump, at the urging of supporters such as you and me, put pressure on Congress to revoke the antitrust exemption that NFL team owners, with campaign contributions, “bribed” senators and congressmen to obtain. In this way, not only will NFL owners have to play by the rule of law and cease price fixing and dividing television, radio, internet, retail and other markets – all of which is otherwise per se illegal under our competition laws – but also teach them a real lesson. And, by revoking their antitrust exemption, this will create competition and lower the price for fans to proudly attend games and buy gear in support of their, not exclusively the owners’, hometown teams.

ABOUT LARRY KLAYMAN

Larry Klayman

Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, is known for his strong public interest advocacy in furtherance of ethics in government and individual freedoms and liberties. During his tenure at Judicial Watch, he obtained a court ruling that Bill Clinton committed a crime, the first lawyer ever to have done so against an American president. Larry became so famous for fighting corruption in the government and the legal profession that the NBC hit drama series West Wing created a character after him: Harry Klaypool of Freedom Watch. His character was played by actor John Diehl.

In 2004, Larry ran for the U.S. Senate as a Republican in Florida’s primary. After the race ended, he founded Freedom Watch.

The author of two books, Fatal Neglect and Whores: Why and How I Came to Fight the Establishment, Larry is a frequent commentator on television and radio, as well as a weekly columnist, on Friday, for WND.com. He has been credited as being the inspiration for the Tea Party movement. (See “Larry Klayman — The One Man TEA Party,” by Dr. Richard Swier.)

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on NewsMax.com. This column originally appeared in © Copyright 2017 by Larry Klayman. Follow on Twitter @FreedomWatchWeb

VIDEO: Rock Band KISS Takes a Shot at the NFL – Honors Veterans, Says Pledge, Plays National Anthem

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Western Journalism’s Fred Maxwell reports:

Paul Stanley

During a stop in Worcester, Mass., as part of its Freedom To Rock tour, KISS singer and guitarist Paul Stanley grabbed the microphone and told the audience that the freedom enjoyed in America came at a great cost.

Referring to military personnel, Stanley said, “They go overseas. They protect us. They stand up for us….When they come back, some of them need medical help, some of them need financial help….They don’t get what they’ve got coming from their country, so we try to be sure that they get it from us.”

[ … ]

“I want to tell you something,” Stanley said. “You should remember patriotism is always cool. Loving your country is always cool. Standing up, respecting and honoring our military is always cool.”

[ … ]

Stanley then shouted, “God bless you! God bless our troops!”

Jay Caruso posted on YouTube a video of the American Rock Band KISS and the following comment:

During a concert, KISS took a shot at Colin Kaepernick who refuses to stand for the National Anthem, presented a $150,000 check to a veterans organization, recited the pledge of allegiance and played a killer version of The Star Spangled Banner.

Mama Merkel could have a rough next 4 years

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Invasion of Europe news…

What did she win? In four more years will Germany even be recognizable?

You’ve seen the news I’m sure, but this headline at Reuters caught my attention:

Incensed over refugees, east Germans punish easterner Merkel

Here is the story.  Germany headed down the tubes IMHO (emphasis below is mine):

BERLIN (Reuters) – For weeks, Chancellor Angela Merkel endured taunts and whistles whenever she ventured out on the campaign trail in her home region of eastern Germany.

Merkel oopsy

Chancellor Angela Merkel

And on Sunday, it was voters in the east, incensed by her decision to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees into the country, that helped send her conservatives to their worst result since 1949 and vaulted a far-right party into the German parliament.

They want Germany for Germans! What a novel idea!

Preliminary results showed the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) winning 22.9 percent of the vote in the former communist east, well above their national result of roughly 13 percent. The AfD performed especially well with east German men, 26 percent of whom backed the party.

[….]

Merkel did secure a fourth term on Sunday, but she limped to the finish line and must now cobble together an unwieldy coalition with two other parties — the business friendly Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens — that have diametrically opposed views on many of the big issues.

The result suggested that pollsters may have underestimated the lingering impact of the refugee crisis in the election and the outsized influence it would have in the east, where voters continue to behave very differently than their brethren in the west 28 years after the fall of the Wall. [Those eastern Europeans haven’t been sufficiently brain-washed with political correctness, or do they understand what occupation feels like!—ed]

I have a very large archive on Germany and an even larger one on the ‘Invasion of Europe.’

RELATED ARTICLES: 

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St. Cloud, MN: a microcosm of the battle ahead for cities targeted by federal refugee program

UC Berkeley cancels Free Speech Week events as Hate Speech

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University campuses have become safe zones against freedom of speech. University of California at Berkeley was the epicenter of the 1960s Free Speech Movement (FSM). According to the UC Berkeley Visual History: Free Speech Movement 1964 website from September 14th to October 1st, 1964:

[September 1st] Student organizations receive a letter from Dean of Students Katherine Towle announcing that tables will no longer be permitted in this area, and that collecting money or recruiting participants for off-campus political activity and taking positions on off-campus political issues will be prohibited. Over the next two weeks, student groups and administrators exchange demands and responses while demonstrations continue.

[September 14th] Students from SNCC and CORE set up tables at Sather Gate without permits from the Dean of Students. University administration representatives take the names of those manning the tables. Five students and three demonstrators are called for disciplinary action. More than 500 sympathizers join them in what is to become the first of the Sproul Hall sit-ins. A little after 2:00 am, the sit-in is disbanded. The eight students are suspended.

[October 1st] In defiance of the ban on on-campus political activities, at 10:00 am Jack Weinberg from campus CORE sets up a table with political information. At 11:45 am he is arrested after refusing to vacate or identify himself.

Eight UC Berkeley students suspended are: Left to right. Seated: Brian Turner, Sandor Fuchs, Arthur Goldberg, Elizabeth Gardner. Standing: David Lance Goines, Mark Bravo, Don Hatch, Mario Savio.

Eight students were suspended for operating a table on campus without a permit.

Fast forward to September 2017. Students at UC Berkeley are now the subjects of an investigation and possible civil or criminal prosecution and suspension for hanging posters promoting a Free Speech Week.

Watch this video with comments on the cancellation of Free Speech Week hosted by Milo Yiannopoulos with Pamela Geller and Mike Cernovich.

The home of off-campus political activity on political issues is now officially dead at UC Berkeley.

RELATED ARTICLE: Antifa leader, teacher Yvonne Felarca arrested at ’empathy tent’ Berkeley brawl